3 comments:

In the UK is Ulmus procera. In my textbook it is U. capmestre. In some other textbook it is U. campestre var. procera. Scientific naming of trees is sometimes highly political an often not very scientific. At a time when the British were the power to be for naming things they insisted of having a British elm. It was a matter of pride. Continental scientsis are under the impression that at most this is a varitey of the common Pan-European small foliage elm which has a tendency for varietes and sports. One such sport is 'Hilliari'.

The synonymy issue is complicated further by the fact that ther is also Ulmus campestris a synonym of the more widely accepted Ulmus procera (this is the so called "English Elm", thought to be introduced to England by the Romans for training vines up). As far as I understand it, Ulmus campestre (the field elm) is a synonym of Ulmus minor, which is the polymorphic form found accross Europe... nothing is ever simple in Taxonomy, and the more we classify the worse it gets!